Why has it all gone quiet about the next cohort of qualified GPs?

Pulse editor-in-chief Jaimie Kaffash ponders the silence surrounding the future of newly-qualified GPs amid the ongoing unemployment crisis

Remember the GP unemployment crisis? It seems so long ago now – that crazy situation where GP practices were short of GPs, but there were huge numbers of GPs out of work. Then the Government announced the GP ARRS scheme and it seems to have sorted everything.

Except I don’t think it has. I am still hearing from GPs who are struggling to find work. Indeed, the ARRS has exacerbated problems for those who aren’t recently qualified, as practices have understandably prioritised the ARRS staff.

And next month, we have a new cohort coming through and seemingly not many jobs. Yet it all seems so quiet. The BMA released a survey last week with warnings around a ‘looming’ unemployment crisis, with many foundation doctors unable to secure training posts. But the focus was on resident hospital doctors, with all communications around their findings used to pressure the Government around industrial action. Since May, there has been little around the numbers of GP registrars who are finishing training with nowhere to go.

I feel like there might be a slightly unsavoury reason for the lack of any talk. Half of GP trainees are international medical graduates, and maybe there isn’t the same level of outrage in the media that they will be unable to find work in the UK. Maybe I am doing the media a disservice, and actually their level of indifference towards GPs isn’t based on nationality; but rather on the fact they are GPs.

The BMA’s focus is currently on resident hospital doctors, so any outrage around GP unemployment is very much secondary to that. But we haven’t heard much from the RCGP on this either.

So what is happening? Am I wrong – has the ARRS in fact been a great success? Has the free market sorted it out, and magicked up jobs?

I haven’t got the answers – but I would like those affected to tell me. If you are a GP who has just qualified or is just about to qualify, let me know what is happening. The data around unemployed GPs is pretty much non-existent, and I suspect this is the main reason we are hearing so little.

But we want to make more of this. This week, we launched Pulse Careers, a new platform for GP trainees, newly-qualified GPs and those who are considering their next career move. We are doing this because we feel they – more than their predecessors – need advice and support in pursuing a career in general practice at a time of particular volatility.

I argued last week that the profession should embrace its inherent flexibility. We kicked off Pulse Careers with a series on portfolio careers, providing details on 16 different roles, including the required qualifications, the time needed to devote to it, the pay, the positives and the negatives. If you were so minded, GPs of any age can take our tongue-in-cheek quiz to determine what portfolio career is for you.

We will be running similar series, including on working abroad, starting a locum career and how IMGs can navigate the NHS among other features.

But, in the meantime, I want to hear from GP trainees and newly-qualified GPs. What problems are you facing in finding work? What advice would you like? You may even want to write for us. Please do send your thoughts to me – [email protected].

Jaimie Kaffash is editor-in-chief of Pulse